Ryan Bingham reunites with The Texas Gentlemen for his first full-length album in more than seven years, They Call Us The Lucky Ones, with new single Ballad Of The Texas Gentlemen out now
by Paul Cashmere
Ryan Bingham will release his long-awaited new album They Call Us The Lucky Ones on May 15, marking his first full-length studio record in more than seven years and a renewed creative partnership with The Texas Gentlemen. The album arrives via The Bingham Recording Co./Thirty Tigers and is led by the newly unveiled track Ballad Of The Texas Gentlemen.
For Bingham, the record represents an organic return to band dynamics. After years carving a fiercely independent path, he found himself increasingly sharing stages with The Texas Gentlemen, eventually recognising that the chemistry had evolved into something more permanent. Ballad Of The Texas Gentlemen captures that moment of realisation, a reflection on life on the road and the bonds formed through shared miles and music.
Across ten tracks, including previously released songs The Lucky Ones and Americana, the album documents the oscillations of an artist’s existence, the fatigue, the resilience and, crucially, a rediscovered sense of joy. Bingham describes the sessions as the most enjoyable of his career. The approach was deliberately immediate, most of the material tracked live with minimal overdubs, allowing feel and instinct to drive the performances.
The Texas Gentlemen, comprising Ryan Ake on guitars, Daniel Creamer on piano and organ, Paul Grass on drums and percussion, and Scott Lee on bass, provide the bedrock for the project. Additional contributions come from Richard Bowden on fiddle and mandolin, and Cody Huggins on electric guitar, acoustic guitar and pedal steel. The result is a sound that folds together folk, blues, country and rock, an aesthetic Bingham has navigated since his earliest recordings.
Bingham’s trajectory has been shaped by lived experience. Born George Ryan Bingham in Hobbs, New Mexico, and raised across West Texas and Houston, he rode bulls on the rodeo circuit as a teenager before music took precedence. A guitar given to him by his mother at 16 became the vehicle for storytelling that would eventually carry him from Texas honky tonks to Los Angeles.
His 2007 debut Mescalito and 2009’s Roadhouse Sun established him as a formidable songwriter, but it was his collaboration with producer T Bone Burnett on the film Crazy Heart that altered his profile globally. Co-writing and performing The Weary Kind, Bingham collected an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice Award and Grammy for Best Song Written For Visual Media. The track became a contemporary standard, cementing his reputation for stark, emotionally resonant writing.
Subsequent albums including Junky Star, Tomorrowland, Fear And Saturday Night and 2019’s American Love Song traced a restless artistic evolution, while his live record Ryan Bingham Live captured the electricity of his touring band. In 2023 he released the self-produced EP Watch Out For The Wolf. Alongside his recording career, Bingham reached a new audience portraying Walker on the television series Yellowstone, where his own songs, including Wolves, were woven into the narrative.
Beyond music and acting, Bingham has built an entrepreneurial portfolio, launching his own label, founding the Fort Worth festival The Great Western, and introducing Bingham Spirits, beginning with Bingham’s Bourbon in 2024. The through-line remains artistic autonomy.
They Call Us The Lucky Ones will be released in Australia on CD and vinyl, with exclusive retail variants including Classic Black and an Indie Retail exclusive Electric Smoke pressing.
They Call Us The Lucky Ones Track Listing
The Lucky Ones
Let The Big Dog Eat
I Got A Feelin’
Twist The Knife
Americana
Cocaine Charlie
Blue Skies
Relevance
Ballad Of The Texas Gentlemen
I’m A Goin’ Nowhere
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE11.com’s newest interviews and special features on YouTube. See things first—Subscribe to Noise11 on YouTube
Follow Noise11.com on social media:
Bluesky
Facebook – Comment on the news of the day
